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Real Life (episode)
The Doctor learns a few real life lessons with the holographic "family" he created; Voyager investigates massive subspace distortions. Summary Teaser The setting is a modern Human home where everything is spotlessly clean and neatly arranged. Charlene, Jeffrey, and Belle hurry downstairs in unison and line up next to the front door. There is almost a Stepford Wives feeling as Charlene checks that her children's fingernails are clean and their shoes polished. Belle asks to greet her father first because she thinks Jeffrey always gets the honor, but Jeffrey reminds Belle that she went first yesterday. Charlene cheerily tells the children to get along. Politely, Jeffrey apologizes to Belle, who concedes that it is Jeffrey's turn. Charlene seems excited and the three of them stand at attention as the man of the house approaches. The Doctor turns a corner, a cup of coffee in one hand and a briefcase in the other, and compliments Charlene on the quality of the coffee. Charlene tells him she replicated a new blend from Paksor III and she seems pleased to hear he enjoyed it. The Doctor kisses her on the cheek and informs her he will be home at the usual time. Everything seems to be in order as Charlene reminds her husband not to overwork himself, Jeffrey promises to have his homework done by the time the Doctor returns from work, and Belle assures the Doctor she will receive an A on her history test. She adds that she'd like to do some algebra problems with him if he has the time. Finally, Charlene reminds The Doctor to invite some of his friends from work for dinner, as she wants to meet them before she and the children say goodbye to The Doctor. In sickbay, Kes stands at a terminal as the Doctor materializes, a satisfied look upon his face. Kes asks what The Doctor's new holo-family is like, and he confidently informs her it is everything he could have hoped for. Act One :"Captain's log, stardate 50836.2. We're had long-range communications with a seemingly friendly race known as the Vostigye. We'll be rendezvousing within the hour at one of their space stations." When reaches the rendezvous where it was scheduled to meet with the Vostigye, the crew finds nothing but debris and all sixty Vostigye scientists appear to have died. There is evidence of energy discharges, although it is possible the assailants used non-traditional weapons. Ensign Kim notes a strange subspace signal leading away from the station, so Captain Janeway decides to follow it. The Doctor sits in sickbay with Lieutenant Torres, who has just performed a diagnostic to ensure that his recent tinkering with his program doesn't interfere with his systems. The Doctor and Kes tell Torres of his new holographic family, which he found surprisingly easy to manage despite what he has heard about families being difficult. Both Torres and Kes express interest in meeting his new family, so he invites them over for dinner. At dinner, the Stepford Wives mentality continues as Charlene informs Torres and Kes that she took a course in continental cuisine so she could replicate new and interesting foods for Kenneth (The Doctor's name in the program). Kes tries to be polite and goes along with the program, but Torres grows increasingly impatient as the conversation continues. When Charlene, Belle, and Jeffrey cheerily describe Kenneth as the best husband and father in the quadrant, Torres stops the program. The Doctor is confused, as he sees nothing wrong with the program, but Torres informs him that his family is nothing like a real family. Describing The Doctor's wife and children as "lollipops," she explains that he won't learn anything from spending time in a fantasy world with a perfect family. However, she offers to help him make them more realistic. Meanwhile, Tom Paris announces that the signal Voyager has been following has thinned out. There are no signs of starships or life signs, but there is an increasingly large subspace disruption, so Janeway puts the ship on red alert. A massive energy wave anomaly emerges from subspace as Voyager attempts to back away. Act Two The anomaly emits some sort of shock wave and bears down on Voyager as Paris announces that the ship's engines have failed. Janeway and the rest of the crew brace for impact and arm the ship's phasers only to see the anomaly disappear seconds later. The crew is in shock until Commander Chakotay speaks up. "I'm not afraid to say it," he says in his normal capacity as master of the obvious. "I've never seen anything like that before." Once the anomaly has dissipated, Janeway decides to investigate it further. Chakotay informs her that according to his readings it was an astral eddy that formed at the confluence of space and subspace. They prepare to anticipate the next such occurrence. Back in sickbay, Kes seems cautious about the randomized behavioral algorithms that Torres has added to The Doctor's family program. However, he doesn't anticipate any problems he can't handle, as he has been programmed with a full database of pediatric care and childhood development and has experience with "romantic relationships." He is due home for dinner shortly and transfers himself to the holodeck. Upon entering his holographic home, The Doctor finds his home disorganized with things lying around everywhere, no one to greet him at the door, and a strange series of bangs and other sounds that distantly resemble music coming from elsewhere in the house. Charlene is in a hurry to go somewhere and seems less than interested in his usual stories about his day at work. She is set to speak at the Bolian embassy, and he learns that it is his turn to cook. Belle yells from her room that she can't find her mallet, and Charlene tells her she would have better luck if she cleaned her room. After Charlene leaves, the Doctor attempts to be reasonable with Belle, explaining she would know where it was if she put it in her closet. She whines as she searches the house frantically, late for practice, but they can agree that the music is too loud. The Doctor tells Jeffrey to turn it off, and he all but ignores his father. Two Klingon adolescents, Larg and K'Kath, knock on the door and rudely ask where Jeffrey is; when the Doctor tells them Jeffrey is doing homework and can't see friends, Jeffrey emerges and says something to Larg and K'Kath in Klingonese. They simply walk past The Doctor while he attempts to deal with the temperamental Belle. Act Three Paris is in the mess hall, looking for food. Neelix asks if Paris wants any food, but Paris complains about Neelix making the same casserole four days in a row. When Neelix suggests that Paris use the replicator, Paris admits that he's out of rations. Neelix dishes him a plate of the casserole. Paris goes over to sit next to Torres, who is reading a book on a PADD, saying "a beautiful woman should never eat alone." He asks what she is reading, and she tries to hide the PADD, saying it's "nothing", but Paris manages to grab it and begins reading aloud. The book is a Klingon romance novel called Women Warriors at the River of Blood, starring Rorik and Menaya. In the ensuing conversation, Paris and Torres speak about the Klingon romantic side. The conversation is filled with double entendres and innuendo. Tom borrows the book, saying "Maybe it'll give me some ideas of how to make ''your heart quicken." Another anomaly appears, and Captain Janeway calls senior officers to the bridge. Paris and Torres exit the turbolift onto the bridge. Captain Janeway asks Paris if he can get the ship close enough to the anomaly to send a probe in. The ship gets a bit of a rough ride. Paris apologizes, saying he's trying to find a way to ride out the graviton waves. Tuvok launches the probe. When the probe hits the anomaly, the ship is shaken worse than before. Paris says that it's kind of fun. Torres disagrees. They begin to receive telemetry from the probe. The anomaly has an interior temperature of nine million Kelvin, exchanges matter between subspace and normal space, and has a perfectly calm eye in the center. Janeway and Torres talk about trying to transport some of the anomaly onto the ship, but the anomaly disappears, taking the probe with it. The probe is still transmitting, and Torres detects some sort of energy, neither in space nor subspace. They then discuss not taking energy from the anomaly, but from its waste. It is decided that ''Voyager's energy output is too great and would corrupt the plasma. Paris suggests taking a shuttle. Torres points out that Paris will be exposing himself to radiation. Captain Janeway orders Paris to report to sickbay before departing. After injecting Paris with something to provide him with temporary protection from the Astral Eddy, the talk turns to the Doctor's family. He informs Paris that he has analyzed the situation and come up with a solution. Paris urges caution: a family is not something that can be 'fixed' like a sick patient. The Doctor's plan is to call a family meeting and to dictate new ground rules to each of its members, so that the family will function more harmoniously. The new rules include shifting the schedules of the activities of his wife and daughter, and forbidding his son to see his Klingon friends. Everyone objects to this plan. His wife objects that she was not consulted beforehand and seems to have no input over the family's direction. His daughter objects to a sports team demotion that will be necessitated by the new schedule. His son objects that it is not his father's place to dictate to him what friends he will and will not have - a point on which his mother agrees. It's also clear that the Doctor has designed the changes in such a way that he alone would be allowed to continue without making any new sacrifices. The meeting collapses, with everyone going their separate ways, and the Doctor has less respect from his family than before. His daughter, however, takes the time to tell him that she still loves him, even if he has made a mess of things. Meanwhile, Paris, inside a shuttlecraft, begins exploring the eddy. He encounters turbulence, and is pulled inside. When the eddy disappears from normal space, so does Paris and the shuttle. Act Four Voyager manages to regain contact with the shuttle. Paris is unhurt, but he doesn't know where he and the shuttle have been sent. In sickbay, Kes persuades the Doctor to take the rest of the day off and to 'go home early' to see to the needs of his family. He interrupts his son and his two Klingon friends in the living room. While they pretend otherwise, it is clear from the Klingon Dagger of Kut'lech, that is present, that they'd been about to begin a ceremony involving violence and bloodletting, in preparation for becoming a warrior. Jeffrey's Klingon friends are ordered to leave the family's house, but the Doctor is unable to prevent the situation with his son from escalating. Jeffrey is disgusted with his father's value system and with that of humanity in general; he intends to become a warrior, and adopt the Klingon way of life. When the Doctor states that Jeffrey needs to live by his father's rules as long as Jeffrey continues living in his father's house, Jeffrey replies, "Then I won't live here," and leaves. Immediately after this incident, the Doctor is contacted by his wife. Their daughter has been injured in a sports accident. At the hospital, the Doctor explains the situation to his wife. Their daughter has suffered severe brain trauma. Despite operating on her for three hours, the Doctor and a colleague are unable to reverse the damage. Charlene won't accept that there is nothing more that can be done. Charlene leaves to get a second opinion. Unable to face the pain involved in Belle's impending death, the Doctor stops the program. Act Five Meanwhile, Paris and the Voyager crew determine that Paris' shuttle has been sent to an 'interfold layer between space and subspace.' Paris and the bridge crew are able to conceive and execute a plan in which Paris rides the eddy back into normal space, where he can be rescued. During a conversation in sickbay, the Doctor informs the rescued Paris that he, the Doctor, won't be returning to his holodeck family, stating that he couldn't face it. Paris replies that he and the other crewmembers would avoid that kind of pain (of a loved one dying) if they could, but that in real life, they do not have much choice or control over such things. When the Doctor replies that fortunately, he does have the ability to make such changes, Paris asks him whether that really is such a fortunate thing; he goes on to say that the Doctor created the program so he could experience what it's like to have a family -- to experience the good times AND bad; however, one cannot have one without the other. Paris points out everyone on Voyager left people behind when they got stranded in the Delta Quadrant, and that everyone has suffered a loss. But, they have found support and friendship with each other, and have become a family, in part because of the pain they have shared. Paris continues by telling the Doctor that he turns his back on this program, he'll always be stuck at this point; he'll never have the chance to say goodbye to his daughter, or be there for his wife and son when they need him... and he'll be cheating himself of the chance to have their love and support. In the long run, so Tom, the Doctor will miss the whole point of what it means to have a family. With this new perspective, the Doctor re-enters the program and experiences his fatherly role at the death of his daughter, providing what comfort and calm that he can for her. He also experiences how he and his remaining family members draw closer to one another in their grief. Memorable Quotes "Well, we're proud of him too. In fact, we think we have just about the most wonderful husband and father in the quadrant." "Yes, we d..." "Computer, freeze program." "Lieutenant? What are you doing?" "I'm stopping this before my blood-sugar levels overload." : - Charlene, Jeffrey and Belle, Torres, and The Doctor "No one has a ''family like this – this is a fantasy! You're not going to learn anything from living with these... lollipops." : - '''B'Elanna Torres', to The Doctor "You're in fine physical shape, Mr. Paris. You may go ahead and engage in this reckless activity." : - The Doctor, to Tom Paris "What's this mean about no Klingon friends?" "Exactly that. They're a bad influence on you. They're prone to violence, they keep you out 'til all hours... Why don't you find some nice Vulcan friends?" : - Jeffrey and The Doctor "You created that program so you could experience what it's like to have a family. The good times and the bad. You can't have one without the other." "I fail to see why not." "Think about what's happened to us here aboard ''Voyager. Everyone left people behind, and everyone suffered a loss. But look how it's brought us all closer together. We found support here, and we've become a family, in part because of the pain we share. If you turn your back on this program, you'll always be stuck at this point. You'll never have the chance to say goodbye to your daughter. Or to be there for your wife and son when they need you. And you'll be cheating yourself out of their love and support. In the long run, you'll miss the whole point of what it means to have a family." : - '''Paris' and The Doctor "It's OK Belle. Go to sleep. We're all here..." :The Doctor Background * Torres's desire to check The Doctor's systems after his recent "tinkering" is likely due to the events of , when similar tinkering to better his personality gave him a psychopathic alter ego. * Lindsey Haun, who played Belle, previously played Beatrice Burleigh in and . She also appeared as one of Jean-Luc Picard's children in the Nexus in . * This episode marks the first (and only) appearance of Torres's asymmetrical braided hairstyle. * This is the only time, apart from the alternate timeline in , that the Doctor (called "Kenneth" by Charlene) has a first name mentioned. Video and DVD releases *UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 3.11, . *As part of the VOY Season 3 DVD collection. Links and References Guest Stars *Wendy Schaal as Charlene *Glenn Harris as Jeffrey *Lindsey Haun as Belle Co-Stars *Stephen Ralston as Larg *Chad Haywood as K'Kath Uncredited Co-Stars *Tarik Ergin as Ayala *Sue Henley as Ensign Brooks *Richard Sarstedt as William McKenzie References 47; algebra; astral eddy; Bolian Embassy; boronite; brain hemorrhage; brain stem; Bussard collector; carbon-60 composite; class 2 shuttle; ''Cochrane''; d'k tahg; Doctor's Family Program Beta-Rho; DNA probe; Findlay; glial cell; graviton; grub meal; homework; hyronalin; immunogenicity analysis; interfold layer; ion mallet; Klingon; Klingon music; kut'luch; lectrazine; M'Nea; Parsons, Michael; Morgan; microfilter implant; motor cortex; Paksor III; Parrises squares; plasma; plasma particle; plasmatic energy; Pleeka rind casserole; Rite of Ascension; Rork; sarium; subspace; subspace disruption; theta band frequency; trigonometry; Vostigye; Vulky; Women Warriors at the River of Blood; wild mushroom pilaf |next= }} Category:VOY episodes de:Das wirkliche Leben es:Real Life nl:Real Life